Sonal Patel is a national award-winning multimedia journalist and senior editor at POWER magazine with nearly two decades of experience delivering technically rigorous reporting across power generation, transmission, distribution, policy, and infrastructure worldwide.
The UK has canceled its flagship £1 billion ($1.5 billion) competition to help commercialize carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology from power plants. The decision by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was announced in a three-sentence release to the London Stock Exchange just days before crucial climate change negotiations are due to […]
Legal marijuana, cultivated indoors on a large scale, poses a growing threat to electrical safety and a booming new business demand for electric power. Legal marijuana cultivation is posing electrical problems in three of the four states where recreational cannabis use is now permitted. The problem is that indoor growing operations—long a production staple when […]
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Coal Plants Without CCS Can Meet EPA Standards, EPRI Study Says Certain types of coal-fired power plants are capable of meeting the 636 kg CO2/MWh emissions limit in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) new source performance standards for existing […]
The final session of the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in Austin ended on Nov. 11 on a “high note,” as outgoing president and Florida Commissioner Lisa Edgar had promised, with a panel titled “The Straight Dope on Energy & the Marijuana Industry.” The subtitle, “(Don’t laugh, it could […]
The world must have carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to address climate concerns, but commercializing CCS will require a level playing field, an industry advisory council appointed by the Department of Energy (DOE) underscores in a new white paper. The report released by the National Coal Council (NCC) on Nov. 10 responds to a […]
Falling power and gas prices will impact the operating cash flows of unregulated U.S. utilities in 2016, but regulated utilities will see a more stable outlook owing to a supportive regulatory environment, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new analysis of fundamental business conditions released on Nov. 6. Moody’s changed its 2016 industry outlook for […]
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide SaskPower Admits to Problems at First “Full-Scale” Carbon Capture Project at Boundary Dam Plant Once again, a first-of-a-kind technology at a coal-fired power plant that is designed to reduce its greenhouse gas footprint has run into design, operational, and […]
A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee has passed two resolutions under a rarely invoked law to render the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) newly finalized carbon rules for new and existing power plants toothless. The joint resolutions introduced on Oct. 26 by Energy and Power Subcommittee Chair Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) under the […]
Italian energy giant Ansaldo Energia says its acquisition of Alstom’s GT 26 and GT36 gas turbine assets and technology, as required by European regulators, will allow the company to increase its turnover twofold in the coming five years. The firm owned 44.8% by Italian state-owned holding company Fondo Strategico Italiano and 40% by Chinese equipment […]
Following regulatory approval of a $10.6 billion transaction in over 20 countries and regions, GE’s acquisition of Alstom’s energy activities is now complete. GE and Alstom sealed the deal first proposed in early 2014 with the signing of a 1,500-page “master agreement.” GE had initially proposed buying Alstom’s lucrative business for €12.35 billion, but following […]
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide CB&I Out, Fluor In at Vogtle and V.C. Summer Nuclear Power Plant Construction Projects There has been a major shake up in the contractors involved in both of the new AP1000 nuclear power plant projects under construction in the […]
Mississippi Power has revealed a new cost increase of $110 million for its Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility. But, the company said that it has tested one of two gasification units—reaching what it says is the project's "most significant milestone yet"—and that it does not expect any new delays. Testing the gasifiers […]
The U.S. Senate has approved the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), controversial legislation intended to block the deluge of cyberattacks by opening up communication channels between the private sector and federal agencies. Senate Bill 754 introduced in March by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and co-sponsored by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) passed the Senate by a […]
It took only minutes for opponents to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants to head for the courts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan became official, published in the Federal Register on Friday morning. The race to the courthouse was on. The first electric utility in […]
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) authority to issue loan guarantees officially received a $1 billion boost, which will be split between its Advanced Fossil Energy Projects solicitation and Renewable Energy and Efficient Energy Projects solicitation. The agency has finalized the additional loan guarantee authority that President Obama announced in August. It means that more loan […]
Westinghouse Electric wants the UK to partner in the deployment of its small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The Toshiba Corp. group on Oct. 20 submitted an unsolicited proposal that outlines a ““shared design and development model” under which Westinghouse would contribute its small modular reactor conceptual design and then partner with UK government and industry […]
Entergy Corp.’s Palisades Power Plant returned to service on Oct. 19, following a month-long outage to implement upgrades, inspections, and safety enhancements. The Michigan plant was shut down on Sept. 16 to begin a planned refueling outage. The company spent $58 million for upgrades and plant inspections, and $63 million for new fuel. The outage […]
The second unit at Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s Sendai nuclear facility in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, has restarted, and three more of the country’s 43 operable reactors may soon follow suit. Kyushu Electric restarted the 846-MW Sendai 2 nuclear facility on Oct. 15, with plans to connect to the grid on Oct. 21, and to achieve […]
The Clean Power Plan could force the retirement of up to 4 GW of coal-fired capacity in the region served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) starting as soon as 2022, an updated analysis suggests. The independent system operator that manages about 90% of Texas’ electric load acknowledged that fewer coal units are […]
Integrating California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) and PacifiCorp’s networks—the two largest high-voltage transmission grids in the West—could yield billions of dollars in shared cost reductions within the first 20 years alone through efficiencies, a new study says. The report commissioned by PacifiCorp stems from a memorandum of understanding signed by the independent system operator (ISO) […]
A federal court last week granted a motion barring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing the Clean Water Rule, which critics say is “exceptionally expansive.” A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Oct. 9 granted the stay sought by 31 states […]
Entergy Corp. will permanently close its 680-MW Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth, Mass., by June 2019, owing to poor market conditions, reduced revenues, and increased operational costs, the company said today. The New Orleans–based company said it has notified grid operator ISO-New England (ISO-NE) that the reactor that began operations in 1972 would not […]
Philip Moeller, a Bush-nominated commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and outspoken critic of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan for its cost and reliability implications, will step down at the end of this month. Moeller, a Republican, joined FERC in 2006, nominated by President George W. Bush. Obama re-nominated him […]
India and 73 other countries submitted their carbon emission reduction targets for 2025 and 2030—or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)—ahead of the deadline last week, with just two months remaining until talks to confront climate change are due to begin in Paris. The United Nations (UN) has so far received 120 separate pledges covering 147 […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized revisions to technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards, setting the first federal limits on the levels of toxic metals in wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants. The new rule sets stringent new requirements for the discharge of arsenic, mercury, selenium, and nitrogen in wastewater streams from flue […]
Georgia Power plans to close all 29 of its coal ash ponds to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) December 2014–finalized rule and forthcoming guidelines governing effluent limitations. The Southern Co. subsidiary will consult with state regulators, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and the Georgia Public Service Commission, to develop and finalize the plan within […]